Lawmakers send Port Hueneme relief bills to governor's desk

SACRAMENTO — In the legislative equivalent of a two-minute drill, lawmakers late Thursday sent Gov. Jerry Brown two bills designed to save Port Hueneme from certain winter flooding.

Those bills did not exist a week ago, but were quickly crafted as a last-minute fix to stave off imminent flooding damage caused by the erosion of beaches that has left surf-side property vulnerable to inundation.

Together, the measures will provide $2 million to the city that, pending Coastal Commission approval, will allow for completion of a rock revetment that will protect public and private beach property until the beaches are restored with sand.

The Assembly sent to the governor Assembly Bill 606 by Assemblymen Das Williams, D-Santa Barbara, and Jeff Gorell, R-Camarillo, to pay for the first half of the project. The Senate also sent Senate Bill 436 by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, to the governor's desk.

Both were approved with no dissenting votes.

The action came just under the wire. Lawmakers were scheduled to end their 2013 lawmaking session about midnight and go home for the year. The Senate bill was approved just ­after ­11 ­p.m.

"When I saw how little time was left, I was not optimistic we'd be able to fix this," Williams said. "The Legislature is usually not hospitable to large budget requests after it has voted on the budget."

Gorell raised the profile of the issue by introducing legislation seeking a budget appropriation for the project, which was rejected. Subsequently, aides to Brown, in a meeting with the three lawmakers late last week identified funding sources to finance the project.

The money would come from remaining portions of a $2.1 billion natural resources bond approved by voters in 2000. It would be appropriated to the California Coastal Conservancy, which then would make the grant to the city.

"The reason this worked is that it was a legitimate need and because all the elected officials, Republicans and Democrats, and the governor's staff got on the same page," Williams said.

The funding for the second phase of the project will depend on how the Coastal Commission decides the city can appropriately protect the beach. The commission, Jackson noted, is generally reluctant to approve projects such as rock revetments that "armor" the beach, but the bond money can be legally spent only on infrastructure.

Under Jackson's bill, if the commission decides to authorize some other fix such as importation of sand, the money instead would come from the Harbors and Watercraft Revolving Fund, either in the form of a grant or a loan.

The fund is financed with fees and taxes assessed on boating activities like vessel registrations.

"I wanted to give the Coastal Commission as much leeway as possible," Jackson said. "They're not going to be pressured to take any specific action."

Jackson credited the work of her staff and those of Gorell and Williams.

"These staff people dropped everything," she said.

Williams noted that both bills were the result of a much-criticized legislative process in which existing bills are stripped of their original intent in the final days of session and amended to deal with an entirely different matter. The process is called "gut and amend."